Hand-operated food cutting machines employing rotary cutting elements have been available for many years. Devices which have proved popular may be equipped with one of a number of interchangeable cutting elements, each having a different type of blade for producing particular kinds of cutting patterns in a variety of food materials. For example, specific cutting elements may grate, shred, slice, ripple-cut or julienne fruits and vegetables to provide the cook with food processed to an assortment of attractive textures, particle sizes and decorative configurations.
In the home kitchen, food cutting machines of the type to which the invention relates are often used only occasionally rather than continuously. Most commonly, perhaps, they are taken from a storage place and used to perform a single food processing step with a specific cutting element which the housewife must first locate among her array of generally loose and odd-shaped utensils and accessories. The device must then be placed in a suitable position for use, preferably fastened securely to a work surface, so that both of the operators hands are available, one to rotate the cutting element and the other to feed the material being processed to the blades.